Bye then!

Well that's all from me, for now. Thanks for your emails and your company, and have a fabulous rest-of-weekend. If you'd like more, you may consider checking out Niall McVeigh's FA Cup clockwatch, which is live right now. Bye!

Bowyer speaks!

A lot was said before the game about the character and spirit of this group, and I thought they were excellent today against a world-class team. They keep on getting better and they keep learning and wanting to improve. Nothing but pride today.

I think Stubbs has got to be disappointed with his performance today, to be honest.

An excellent performance from Blackburn, who had several impressive performers: Cairney, Williamson, Dann, Gestede and Taylor all did well, I think, and nobody played badly. Credit too to Gary Bowyer, for his entirely sensible but still admirably aggressive double substitution with 10 minutes to play. The game took a little while to get going, but the last hour or so was very fine entertainment indeed.

88 mins: Oooooh! Blackburn cross from the right, and Lescott just beats Rhodes to the ball. City bring Zabaleta on for Silva. And James Thomas has the final word on the FA Cup ball: "Can we agree that, whatever the heck that color is, it’s hideous and should be shelved ASAP." Yes, I think that is the only appropriate conclusion.

82 mins: A great chance for City! It comes from Spurr's long throw at the other end, from which they break whippet-style, with Jesús Navas eventually thrashing the ball wide when well placed left of goal, 15 yards out.

81 mins: Jordan Rhodes is on, with Rudy Gestede coming off having played pretty well, and DJ Campbell replaces Marshall. Blackburn want to win this here, which given City's record at home this season seems reasonable.

72 mins: Blackburn's tactics appear to be to allow no City player any space within 40 yards of their goal, except for Milner, who can have as much as he likes. It seems to be working OK. Dzeko thrashes a 30-yard thundercracker straight at Robinson.

69 mins: Marshall's extremely optimistic 30-yard volley on the half-turn flies over the bar, whereupon City run down the other end and Negredo misses two half-chances in close succession. "The true connoisseur knows that the best-tasting mangoes are of the Alphonso variety, which grows in India and ripens in springtime," writes Danyal Dhondy. "Modest in size (compared to its African cousin), the Alphonso has a velvety yellow skin, which acquires brown blotches and becomes soft to the touch when it ripens. Slicing it open, you are hit with the double whammy of a fresh, honeyed aroma, and the deep, rich sunset colour of the flesh. Perhaps the folks at Nike know their mangoes after all?" Crikey, it is a mango ball!

64 mins: Now City miss a sitter! Silva chips the ball up to Negredo, who heads the ball down to Dzeko, whose hard shot from the edge of the area is palmed away by Robinson straight to Negredo, whose header goes wide.

62 mins: Great chance for Blackburn! Gestede does well to keep possession on the right, pops the ball to the nearest team-mate and his low, hard cross finds Taylor, whose shot under pressure flies wide.

61 mins: Penalty area ping-ping! Caused by another ludicrous Spurr throw, but then City break, Silva passes Negredo into space and he need only scoop the ball around one defender to leave Dzeko with a tap-in! He hits the ball straight into the defender.

58 mins: Another set-piece chance for Blackburn! Spurr's enormous throw-in flies all the way to Tom Cairney at the far post, which astonishes him as much as anyone else and the ball comes off his chest and bounces wide.

GOAL! Blackburn 1-1 Manchester City (Scott Dann, 55)

55 mins: Another scrappy corner-goal! The ball comes in from the right, Gestede's header is powerful, but right at Pantilimon, who drops the ball onto his toe, from where it rolls to Dann, whose finish is straightforward.

53 mins: Milner is now popping up on the right wing, whereupon a cross from the left causes Blackburn all sorts of problems, but amid a forest of swinging boots in the penalty area the one that gets the good contact is a defender's.

47 mins: Blackburn win an early free-kick, as Fernandinho takes out Lee Williamson, but nothing much comes from it. "Thank you Dan Lucas for adding some much needed sense to a debate about the Stereophonics," gurgles Matt Dony. "They were great for one album, and could have been so much more! If 'Local Boy In The Photograph' doesn't move you, then you're dead inside. Unfortunately, if 'Mr Writer' does move you, then you have no taste and I don't know how to talk to you."

Peeeeeeeeeeep!

A decent half of football from Blackburn, ruined, obviously, by its final moments. City struggled to find any space in central positions, and were forced to attack down the left, from where their delivery wasn't up to much. To then concede a borderline-offside goal from a corner in the 45th minute, well, that's got to burn. I can't really blame Grant Hanley – I'd want to give someone a shove as well.

"Oh lordy that's a miserable thing to read," writes Nick Evans of Nike's description of their FA Cup ball (11 mins). "I admit that I use the word 'colourway' in my job, but only when I'm talking to wholesalers, and in general, they start it and I have to grit my teeth. 'Colour' is a perfectly good word on it's own.

"But my real objection was to the use of the word 'athletes.' Athletes run about quickly, in the main. And those that aren't good at running throw stuff, unless they have a note from their mum. People who play football are called 'footballers' and although they also run about a lot (some more than others, admittedly) running isn't the thing that makes them a footballer. It'd be more succinct as:

"The colour and design of the ball makes it easier to see in flight, so the footballers can see it more easily"

43 mins: Dzeko's deflected shot loops into the air, suddenly presenting Negredo with a headed chance. Just to make sure he wins the ball he gives the nearest defener a decent shove, and the referee blows his whistle. "it's much more a Charentais melon color if you ask me," insists Conall Hogan of the match ball.

40 mins: A decent chance for Blackburn, with a cross from the left that is too high for Gestede, who gets close enough to put off whoever it was that was arriving at pace behind him. A moment later, Chris Taylor slams a 20-yarder high and wide.

32 mins: Dan Lucas provides a Stereophonics career summary: "Yes they spent a long time as purveyors of meat and potatoes brown Dad rock that would shame Paul Weller, but their début Word Gets Around still stands up as a quite wonderful album with genuinely clever lyrics," he insists. "The new one's not bad either. It's just that 90% of their songs in between were woeful." The first album passed me by, I fear, leaving me to experience nothing but the 90%.

29 mins: Blackburn continue to attack fairly well, but their delivery from wide areas hasn't been good enough to trouble Pantilimon. At the other end, the ball is slid across the edge of the penalty area to Negredo, whose phenomenal first touch beats two defenders but takes the ball too close to Robinson, who gathers.

26 mins: Let's try to clear this whole mango/papaya business up for good. Here's some photographic evidence. Can we agree that the ball has been hopelessly misnamed? And also that it doesn't look very good, and is by no means as visible from distance as a white one?

A mango. Photograph: Helen Rimell for the Guardian.
A ball that doesn't look like a mango. Photograph: Nike
A papaya. Photograph: Alamy

11 mins: Milner overhits a pass to Clichy and a good City move comes to an end. Lots of people are asking about the orange ball in use today. So, in summary: it's not orange, it's mango. The manufacturers, who don't deserve a namecheck because the ball they've made is too unfriendly on the eye, say:

Peeeeeeeeep!

Talking of music, here's BT Sport commentator Darren Fletcher's opening gambit: "Blackburn, a place with 4,000 holes according to John Lennon but it's where the FA Cup starts…" Now I've not spent a lot of time in Blackburn, but is its greatest claim to fame genuinely that some people not from Blackburn once suggested there was an absence of something there? Anyway, Fletcher soon shows some charming diplomacy when suggesting that Paul Robinson "still has to play himself back into fitness", which is I think a very generous way of putting it.

Talking of Gary Bowyer speaking, here's the highlight of his interview in today's Telegraph:

My daughter has just been to see the Stereophonics. It was a proud moment. Yes! It’s been passed on down! Music helps me sometimes get away from football. I grew up with my mum and dad listening to Motown. I had a little bit of the Hacienda! The people I have surrounded myself with have always been into music.

The Stereophonics? I mean, they're OK, but are you really sure that's what you wanted to pass down to your children? (chokes on lunch)

Gary Bowyer speaks!

The Blackburn manager has been speaking to BT Sport, and this is (some of) what he said:

We've played a lot of football over the last couple of weeks. He's been carrying a little niggle so it was an opportunity to give him a little bit of a breather," says Gary Bowyer. "If I was leaving him out to not get him cup tied then he wouldn't be on the bench. I'm under no instructions to sell him from the owners and that's what we continue to do.

On Paul Robinson: Last year was a near-death experience for him and we're delighted that he's back in this position. We've said to the players, go and enjoy it, measure yourself against some of the world's best. We've got nothing to lose and everything to gain today.

Hello world!

Manuel Pellegrini's introduction to the FA Cup comes in the shape of a potentially tricky tie at the Championship's 10th-best side. Blackburn's form is curious, coming as it does with a curiously repeating pattern. Going backwards in time from the present day – which is a skill Blackburn fans would probably dearly love to have – it reads: won-lost-drawn; won (a slight anomaly there); won-drawn-lost; won-drawn-lost; won-drawn-lost.

Pellegrini has named a strong team, and Blackburn have left top scorer Jordan Rhodes on the bench, so all logic dictates that the Premier League's second-placed side are going to do a proper steamroller job here. Interesting aside: Paul Robinson, or the ghost of Christmas future as Joe Hart might call him, makes his first start for over a year after having an operation in April to deal with a blood clot in a lung.

So, without further ado except for a tiny little fanfare – because they're worth it – your matchday teams!

Simon will be here from 12.15pm GMT with all the team news and build-up ahead of the third round FA Cup match between Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. If you get here first, here's the Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini's spirit of football lecture:

Manuel Pellegrini said "football is cheating" following a week of controversy regarding managers' hectoring of referees and diving by players.

"I think it's very difficult to be a referee," Pellegrini said. "The players play too quickly, the players are always trying to cheat because football is cheating. They are always trying to take advantage for their teams and of course nobody likes when referee blows against your team, but a lot of the time it can be to give you an advantage."

David Moyes defended Januzaj, who was booked after a tussle with Danny Rose, the United manager pointing to statistics that show the 18-year-old is the league's most fouled player. "I think the other night was the wrong decision," he said. "More people are tackling him than any other player. I've been saying that for five or six weeks. It gives you an idea of the ability the boy has got. But if you were going to have any sympathy with him at all, these are the reasons why."

Moyes does not want video technology introduced as a means of eradicating diving. "I wouldn't want videos to come into the game," he said. "I don't think referees would want that either. I think goal-line technology is a good situation. From what I've seen at the moment it's working well when it's had to work.